PHOENIX—At this time last season, the majority of baseball fans had little to no idea who Jonathan Lucroy was. For all they knew, he may have been a coach or commentator instead of a player.

That’s not a knock on casual baseball fans. It’s just that Lucory, who is the catcher for the Milwaukee Brewers, hadn’t made many headlines prior to 2012. In fact, he didn’t make many last season either, but he is on the verge of becoming one of the league’s best hitting catchers whether he is a household name or not.

Jonathan Lucroy may be best known for his hitting skills, but he's coming along as a defensive catcher, too. (AP Photo)

Part of the reason Lucroy has yet to bask in the spotlight is because he played in just 96 games in 2012 and got hurt at the wrong time of the season. Lucroy suffered one of the season’s odder injuries when his wife dropped a suitcase on his right hand and fractured it in a Los Angeles hotel room.

At the time Lucroy was hitting .345/.387/.583 with five home runs and 30 RBIs and was on the verge of making his first National League All-Star team. Those numbers put him among the league’s elite catchers, but the injury kept him off the field for two months.

Lucroy, who is also becoming a solid defensive catcher, finished the season hitting .320/.368/.513 with 12 home runs and a 133 OPS-plus in 346 plate appearances. Before becoming a key piece to Milwaukee’s lineup, Lucroy hadn’t come close to producing that kind of line in his first two seasons.

“My first two years I didn’t really feel comfortable at all,” Lucroy said. “Last year was the first year up here that I had everything together, that I had my swing, my mechanics down where they are supposed to be. Timing was also a lot of it. I was late a lot before and it broke down my mechanics.”

Lucroy, who was tabbed for Team USA and the World Baseball Classic this spring, has the ability to be a standout offensive catcher. He just has to show he can do it for more than one injury-shortened season before he can claim his spot among the best in the game.

“You can’t say he’s already there, but you can say when he’s been on the field he’s performed that way,” Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. “He’s still got to show that he can for a total season be that guy. We have confidence he can do it. He can really hit and he’s learning every year.”